'In Labor' in the Bible
Trembling seized them there, pains like those of a woman in labor,
They will be terrified; pain and anguish will seize them; they'll writhe like a woman in labor. They'll look aghast at one another; and their faces will be ablaze with fear.
Therefore my body is racked with pain; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am so upset that I cannot hear; I am so frightened that I cannot see while I'm reeling around.
Be ashamed, Sidon, because the sea has spoken, the fortress of the sea: I have neither been in labor nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women."
"Sing, you barren woman, even the one who never bore a child! Burst into song and shout for joy, even you who were never in labor! For the children of the desolate woman will be more than the children of her that is married," says the LORD.
Who has ever heard of such a thing? And who ever sees such things? Can a country be born in a single day, or can a nation be brought forth in a single moment? Yet no sooner was Zion in labor than she delivered her children.
I heard a cry like that of a woman in labor, anguish like one giving birth to her firstborn, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for air, stretching out her hand: "Woe is me! I'm about to faint in front of killers!"
We have heard the news about it, and our hands are limp. Distress has seized us like a woman in labor.
Look, I'm bringing them from the northern region, and I'll gather them from the farthest parts of the earth. among them will be the blind and the lame, together with the pregnant woman and the woman in labor. A large group will return here.
The towns will be captured and the strongholds seized. On that day the hearts of the warriors of Moab will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
Look, he will rise up and fly swiftly like an eagle. He will spread his wings against Bozrah, and on that day the hearts of the warriors of Edom will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
The king of Babylon has heard the news about them, and his hands hang limp. Distress has seized him, like a woman in labor.
Why are you crying so loud now? There's no king among you, is there? Perhaps your advisor has died? For pain has overtaken you like a woman in labor.
Be in pain! Be in labor, you daughter of Zion, like a woman about to give birth, because now you will depart from the city, living in the open fields. To Babylon you will go. There you will be delivered, there the LORD will rescue you from the power of your enemies."
Therefore that ruler will abandon them until the woman in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his countrymen will return to the Israelis."
When a woman is in labor she has pain, because her time has come. Yet when she has given birth to her child, she doesn't remember the agony anymore because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.